(1) Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a stapling device with at least two stapling heads attached to a staple carriage for stapling sheet like material wherein the distance between the stapling heads can be adjusted relative to one another.
(2) Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98
Sheet-like material, in particular paper, cardboard or the like, is stapled using machines with so-called stapling heads, which are able to cut a required length of wire provided by a supply roll, shape the cut piece into a staple, drive the staple into the material to be stapled, and then impart the final staple shape by bending the staple ends.
Such stapling heads are used in so-called gather-staplers, for example, which have a gathering and transporting unit that compiles the material to be stapled and relays it to stapling. A staple carriage with two or more stapling heads is moveably secured in a section of the gathering and transporting unit, and staples together the material to be stapled, while the gathering and transporting unit keeps moving, i.e., the staple carriage travels synchronously with the material to be stapled during the stapling process, so that its transport is not stopped, but stapling rather takes place while in motion.
Depending on the type and size of the material to be stapled, the stapling heads must here be spaced apart at varying distances. In known gather-staplers (e.g., see DE 197 50 143 A1), the distance between stapling heads has thus far been set manually before starting up the machine, wherein the stapling head mount is removed from the staple carriage to this end.
Retrofitting such a gather-stapler hence involves a corresponding shutdown of the machine and, if necessary, the provision of appropriate personnel.
The same problem is also encountered in stapling machines in which the material to be stapled is conveyed into a stationary stapling device, stapled there and then transported away.